Bethune Academy

The Bethune Academy Music Outreach was founded in 2001 in order to provide student performances for our community. The Music Outreach has performed for charitable causes like Relay for Life, Habitat for Humanity, and regularly performs for community events in Polk County.

Students who participate in one of the Music Outreach’s four ensembles must attend Bethune Academy, located in Haines City, FL. Student ensembles (a primary choir, an intermediate choir, a steel drum ensemble and a ukulele ensemble) rehearse once a week before and after school. Students who wish to participate in an ensemble sign a Leadership Contract in which they agree to become academic and character role models for the rest of the student body.

During the 2007-08 school year, the Music Outreach received a grant from the Teaching Tolerance foundation to partner with Karen Siegel Academy, a K-12 school for students with severe physical and mental challenges. Siegel Academy is located in Lake Alfred, FL. The project, “We’re All the Same On the Inside”, helped students discover the similarities between people with varying levels of ability.